NASA data reveal a clear warming trend on our planet

NASA data reveal a clear warming trend on our planet Today’s Video of the Day from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center describes how scientists know what they do about climate change and global warming. 

Experts recently announced that 2021 was tied for the sixth warmest year in recorded history. This spans more than a century, dating back to 1880.

To determine how warm the Earth is from year to year, NASA uses millions of observations from instruments on weather stations, ships, ocean buoys, and Antarctic research stations.  This annual temperature data makes up the global temperature record – which tells scientists the planet is warming.

Overall, the data show a clear warming trend on our planet. This warming trend is not distributed evenly across the globe. Some places on Earth had record-high temperatures in 2021, while others did not experience heat extremes. There were also record droughts, floods and wildfires. 

 This past year was 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.98 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20 th century to the human expansion.

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer